Black Grasswren — Australian Bird Identification Guide

Bird guideBlack Grasswren

Black grasswrens are not highly mobile and have possibly become locally extinct around Manning Creek due to fire before 2007.

Spot this species Read on Wikipedia

⚠️Not listed

🌿Endemic to Australia

At a glance

FamilyFairywrens

SizeTiny

RarityRare

HabitatSmall chestnut-and-black bird with a long tail, found in areas with large rocky sandstone boulders and dense spinifex grass of the northwestern Kimberley region of Western Australia, with most sightings from the Mitchell Plateau.

Best timeMost reliable in Western Australia from July.

Sounds

Sound sample

0:000:00

Recorded by JACOB Hervé

Range map

Occurrence window

16visible hotspots

67visible records

1states

Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence

Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.

Species notes

Overview

Small chestnut-and-black bird with a long tail, found in areas with large rocky sandstone boulders and dense spinifex grass of the northwestern Kimberley region of Western Australia, with most sightings from the Mitchell Plateau.

Behavior

Rich chestnut-brown above, black below, the head and breast liberally streaked with white.

Gallery

Regional timing

Western Australia

Peak: July67 records

Commonly confused with

Purple-backed FairywrenMalurus assimilisSmall pale tips are sometimes visible on the tail. Over much of the species’s inland range, females are overall grayish birds with pale fronts and long blue tails; however, females of the subspecies found in the sandstone regions of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land have contrasting blue crowns and backs. This species occurs over much of arid inland Australia and is found in open vegetation.→